HIV cases rise locally with increased heroin use

Tuesday

Faced with the reality that HIV cases are rising with increased heroin use, at Utica agence offers free HIV testing and “bleach kits” with directions on how to clean needles for safe drug use.

One story begins with a 23-year-old man in the Utica area infecting his girlfriend with HIV.

She later tested positive for AIDS, and within that same year this man knowingly infected three other area women.

Now, four women – two of whom are pregnant with this man’s child – are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, putting those women and children at risk of developing AIDS.

So while HIV and the liver disease Hepatitis C continue to be spread locally mostly through sexual contact, such infections now are beginning to creep into the Utica area as heroin drug use starts to rise and dirty needles are shared, said Michael Johnson, Safety First Outreach coordinator for the AIDS Community Resources agency in Utica.

The organization also is looking for funding to begin a needle-exchange program in Oneida County so that users can turn in their dirty needles for clean ones, Johnson said. Another program already exists in Syracuse where users get vouchers to bring their dirty needles to Harvey’s Pharmacy in exchange for clean ones.

“We’re not promoting drug use, and we’re not just giving them supplies,” Johnson said. “We’re letting them know they’re at risk, and telling them where they can receive health care, treatment and safe housing.”

In 2008, 12 cases of HIV infections were reported among intravenous drug users in Oneida County, as well as 39 AIDS cases, according to federal statistics provided by AIDS Community Resources, which covers nine counties. Through heterosexual contact, 28 cases of HIV were reported and 25 AIDS cases.

Over the past four years, at least six people with AIDS have died in the Utica area, Johnson said, but many more cases of HIV and AIDS surely go unreported.

More young people locally are getting caught up in the scourge of heroin use, but they aren’t seeking help because negative attitudes and social stigmas often make them too ashamed to tell anyone, Johnson said.

So they continue to share dirty needles, have unprotected sex and avoid recognizing the frightening truth that they might be infected with HIV, hepatitis or other diseases, Johnson said.

“For some people, I don’t think their intention is to stay in that mode of lifestyle,” Johnson said, “But the stigma that goes behind some of these behaviors makes it so people will not seek services until it’s too late.”

Until these users are ready to be helped, AIDS Community Resources wants them to be “as safe as their addictions allow them” – and that means using clean needles to inject their drugs, Johnson said.

Another way the agency tries to connect with users is by having recovering addicts talk to them, such as 28-year-old Evan.

The former Clinton man explained how he allowed his life to spiral downward until he caught hepatitis several years ago. Evan did not want to reveal his last name due to the stigma surrounding drug use and hepatitis.

Evan once told himself that he’d never share needles with someone while shooting heroin, but that promise soon collapsed under his addiction.

“I knew the dangers, but you don’t care in the desperation of needing the drug,” Evan said. “If it’s a matter of waiting 30 minutes or doing the drug now with a dirty needle, I couldn’t wait. I lost my self-worth, my self-esteem, and the kinds of things that would make me look out for myself or protect my health.”

But in January 2008, reality sank in when Evan tested positive for Hepatitis C.

Users no longer talk about hepatitis or HIV as they swapped needles and sex partners, Evan said, since they knew such risks “came with the territory.” Some users, Evan added, don’t even want to find out whether they are infected or not because they don’t want to admit being a “junkie.” Evan has since undergone treatment for hepatitis again.

The “face of heroin” has changed as more young people and more well-educated people get caught up in addictions.

“People sometimes are willing to risk it all and get infected just for love or social acceptance, because we don’t have self-love anymore,” said Mamie Smith, an HIV prevention specialist for AIDS Community Resources. “These are young children, getting lost in the midst of addiction. So if we can instill those values and morals and self-love, then I really think that’s the shield that can get them back on track to save themselves.”